Daily Archives: August 23, 2010

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir criticizes President Obama for continuing unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan‘s tribal areas, a policy started under the Bush administration. Mir claims that the drones have killed many women and children, but no top al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders.

The airstrikes took place in Darga Mandi village in North Waziristan tribal district …

An intelligence official who requested anonymity said the missiles fired from a US unmanned plane destroyed parts of a mud compound.

“According to the reports we have received here four men, five women and four children died in the attack. The identities of those killed were not known yet,” the official said.

Probably we will soon have to hear that the people killed in Darga Manda village `were Taliban and-or Al Qaeda`. For, according to NATO war propaganda logic, if we kill you, that automatically makes you Taliban and-or Al Qaeda.

Women and children in Pakistan facing floods, displacement with “no shelter and no help”: here.

Blackwater resurfaces in Pakistan. Operatives to infiltrate key cities… Has Pakistan been blackmailed by US govt? Here.

The chestnut tree was made famous after Anne Frank during World War II described it in her diary. She could see the tree from the Secret Annex on the Prinsengracht, where she and her family went into hiding. …

The at least one hundred and fifty years old tree was severely damaged by fungus and rot. In 2008, the tree was provided with a special structure to keep it up. …

Thousands of dead fish, other marine life found at mouth of Mississippi River outlet into the Gulf: here.

August 2010: As the US starts to count the massive conservation costs of the current oil slick disaster off the coast of Louisiana , agreement by the UK government to allow two companies to begin seismic surveys in preparation for potential future oil and gas development in the Moray Firth, Scotland – a Special Area of Conservation – has been condemned by groups including the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS): here.

Financial Times: “New figures that reveal a sharp increase in the number of major [oil and gas] leaks” over 09-10: here.

The rape charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, announced and then withdrawn by Swedish prosecutors, bear all the hallmarks of a US-inspired provocation against the Internet-based organization for its exposure of US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: here.

Assange to fight molestation charge: Lawyers for Wikileaks founder press for charges against him to be dropped: here.

Reports appearing in the US and British press seem aimed at lending credence to the politically motivated accusations of rape against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and rebutting his claim that he is the target of a smear campaign instigated by the Pentagon and CIA: here.

The decision by a senior Swedish prosecutor to reopen the rape charges against WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is a transparently political decision. There is every reason to believe this is part of a “dirty tricks” operation: here.

According to active-duty and former soldiers at Fort Hood, members of the 3rd ACR saw some of the worst fighting conditions of the U.S. war on Iraq. Many of these soldiers returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and other injuries that made them unfit to return to battle. The casualty rates for this regiment are astronomical.

Soldiers and others became aware that redeployment was imminent when soldiers from the regiment were sent to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which is a preparatory step before being sent to Iraq. The redeployment is expected to occur later this month.

Dahr Jamail, who interviewed some of these soldiers before they returned from Fort Irwin to Fort Hood, reports that at least 50 of the soldiers from this regiment received medical diagnoses that would prohibit their receiving training, much less redeployment.

If a physician decides that a soldier’s medical condition requires treatment and makes the soldier unable to perform his or her duties, that decision can be overturned by the soldier’s commander on the basis that the soldier is “needed.”

Of course, if there are 50 diagnosed soldiers, there are undoubtedly many more who have not yet received or have not sought treatment.

Frustrated by their failure with repeated attempts to be heard within the military chain of command, four wives of soldiers in the 3rd ACR approached Cindy Thomas of Under the Hood Café, the antiwar, pro-soldier coffeehouse in Killeen. Thomas works tirelessly to get soldiers the rights that they were promised.

After a series of actions to publicize the plight of these soldiers, three were returned to Fort Hood and will not be redeployed. The soldiers have been promised help for the conditions suffered from previous deployments. The fourth soldier elected to get out of the Army.

Thomas thinks the Army relented in these cases to prevent a mushrooming movement.

When the protest was publicized, the Army sent out word that any active-duty service members attending would be arrested. An attorney who works with Under the Hood quickly reminded the Army that this was against Department of Defense regulations, which allow out-of-uniform, off-duty soldiers the right to protest. Several active-duty soldiers and former soldiers attended without incident.

Protesters carried signs that read “U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan,” while a banner flapping in the Texas wind stated “Col. Allen, 3 ACR: Do not deploy wounded soldiers.”

Each protest outside of Fort Hood nets new soldier visits to Under the Hood Café, Thomas says.

While protesters were putting up the banner on a vacant spot next to a filling station, a young woman with a car full of kids pulled up to describe her husband’s frustrating and futile attempts to get help for his PTSD. She was happy to know that people were organizing around the issue.

Meanwhile, plans for the deployment of these soldiers continue. Under the Hood has launched a “Harass the brass” campaign, urging everyone around the world to call the commanders of the 3rd ACR between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Central time) by August 25.

According to Thomas, these calls have made a difference in the past. “They need to know they won’t get away with this,” she said.

What you can do

Call the 3rd ACR’s regimental commander, Col. Reginald Allen, at 254-553-3526 and tell him you oppose the deployment of soldiers with PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other physical and mental disabilities. Leave a message or call back if he is unavailable.

In 2003 an estimated 15,000 artefacts were stolen from the Iraqi National Museum and only about a third have been returned. … And little is being done to safeguard the future of Iraq’s modern art and monuments. Many of these have deliberately destroyed as part of the de-Baathification process aimed at removing symbols of Saddam Hussein’s regime: here.

Occupation of Iraq to continue, we must oppose it: Interview with anti-war leader Meredith Aby: here.

T. Christian Miller and Daniel Zwerdling, ProPublica and NPR: “During the past few decades, scientists have become increasingly persuaded that people who suffer brain injuries benefit from what is called cognitive rehabilitation therapy – a lengthy, painstaking process in which patients relearn basic life tasks such as counting, cooking or remembering directions to get home. Many neurologists, several major insurance companies and even some medical facilities run by the Pentagon agree that the therapy can help people whose functioning has been diminished by blows to the head. But despite pressure from Congress and the recommendations of military and civilian experts, the Pentagon’s health plan for troops and many veterans refuses to cover the treatment”: here.